The 6 Online Marketing Mistakes Your Law Firm Should Ditch in 2016

As 2015 comes to a close, it’s time to look back on the year and
think about what you would have done differently. Now take that insight
and use it to create a stronger, more effective online marketing strategy
for 2016! Everybody makes bad decisions now and then — the key is
to learn from them and move on with a clean slate. By starting off the
New Year right, you can give your firm a better chance of attracting the
right cases and clients in the year ahead.

If you truly want a fresh start for your law firm, leave these 6 common
online marketing mistakes behind as you enter into the New Year:

1. Thinking in an “Us vs. Them” Mentality When Working with
Your Marketing Team

Your team of Internet marketing experts is there to work with you, not
against you. This team should serve as an extension of your law firm,
rather than a third-party service provider that takes a lot of effort
to manage. Your team should be providing you with constant insight into
what’s working and what’s not working within your marketing
campaigns, and they should actively collaborate with you on the solutions
that are best for your firm. Remember, the only way to achieve this type
of relationship is to regularly communicate with your marketing team so
they know how to best serve you.

2. Calling It Quits on a Marketing Campaign Too Early

Just like with anything, online marketing campaigns take time. Yes, you
may start seeing results right after launching a website or an ad campaign,
but that doesn’t mean you’re seeing the full picture quite
yet. After launching your campaign, your marketing team will need to collect
data, get feedback from you, and make certain adjustments to your campaign
so it is properly optimized for the best results. It can often take 60
to 90 days before a campaign is fully optimized. Make sure you give your
marketing efforts time to take full effect before you decide to call it
a success or a failure.

3. Failing to Diversify Your Online Marketing Strategy

If you want to get ahead of your competitors, you will need to have effective
strategies for both organic search and paid search. Both are important
when it comes to boosting your online exposure and attracting the right
types of cases to your law firm! For example, you can use search engine
optimization (SEO) — such as the implementation of keywords and
high-quality content — to get your law firm’s website ranking
better in organic search results. Meanwhile, you can also leverage keyword-optimized
pay per click (PPC) ads to drive additional traffic to your site —
traffic that you might not have captured otherwise.

4. Ignoring the Mobile Crowd

Have you been putting off the task of making your law firm’s website
mobile-friendly? Big mistake. Not only does this alienate a huge segment
of your target audience, but it is also likely hurting your search engine
rankings in Google searches performed on smartphones. (Google implemented
a new mobile-friendly update in April 2015.) Read our blog post from last
week to learn about this update and about how more than half of all Google
searches are now performed on mobile devices.

5. Thinking Online Reviews Are No Big Deal

More and more people are turning to online reviews for help choosing service
providers, and that includes lawyers and law firms. According to
BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2015, 92% of consumers say they read online reviews, marking an increase from
88% in 2014. The survey results also found that 40% of consumers only
read 1 to 3 reviews before forming an opinion about a business. With online
reviews playing such a significant role in consumer behavior, you can’t
afford to ignore the reviews that clients are posting about you online.
Make sure to regularly check out review and rating sites such as Yelp,
Avvo, and Lawyers.com so you can properly manage your online reputation!

6. Not Keeping Track of Your Return on Investment (ROI)

Are your online marketing campaigns actually bringing in new clients and
cases and making your law firm money? You’ll never know unless you
take the time to properly track the return on investment of your marketing
campaigns. You need hard data to make meaningful decisions about how to
best market your law firm, so don’t just go with your gut! The key
is to look at metrics that show how much activity your campaign is generating
(such as ad clicks, unique website visitors, and new clients obtained),
as well as how much money your law firm is receiving after the costs are
factored out. Make sure to track ROI on a regular basis and to stay consistent
with your metrics!

Don’t let 2016 be a repeat of last year’s mistakes! If you
are interested in getting expert advice about how you can improve your
law firm’s online marketing strategy for the New Year, call Scorpion.

Stephen Bess is the Vice President of Franchise Marketing at Scorpion. Prior to joining Scorpion, Stephen spent more than 10 years in the print, web, and digital publishing industry as a head editor of several magazines. He is also a former professional baseball player the Detroit Tigers, a foodie, and an amateur chef. He enjoys learning, trying red wines, and traveling to Santa Ynez, Paso Robles, Napa, and Sonoma with his wife and his daughter.